PFC Energy: The Mediterranean oil product markets have historically been dominated by the Western European Med markets (France, Italy and Spain), both in terms of demand (47% of demand in 2008) and in terms of refining production (48% of supply in 2008). Going forward, however, Western European markets will see their weight progressively decline, due to a decline in demand and to challenges for some of its refineries.
The telecommunications and wireless sectors have been bright spots in North African economies and likely to continue to grow. The success of these sectors comes from a wide consumer adoption first of basic mobile phone services, in particular voice, at very affordable prices, then expanding into new services from SMS texting to ring tones. In this paper, Julien Blin, the North Africa Journal’s technology editor and CEO of JBB Research predicts what is to come in Africa’s wireless and telecom markets this year. (copyright JBB Research: http://www.jbbresearch.com)
Libya is moving fast to catch up with oil-rich Gulf nations that have set up lucrative investment funds to acquire assets around the world. However, Libya’s entry into the global investment community is not new. Its first and probably most known fund, the Libyan Arab Foreign Investment Company (Lafico) was already set up some 28 years ago.
Fast forward 10, 15 or 20 years from now and you will see a vastly different North Africa. While big media outlets are focused on the giant economies of China, Brazil, and others, mid-level economies like those of North Africa are also a place of substantial economic activity. Domestic investments, sometimes aided by the contribution of foreign investors, are fueling economic development and growth. Despite the global economic hiccup, the pace of investments committed into the infrastructure sector in North Africa has been moving at a healthy pace bringing the rest of the economy with it. And that bodes well for the region as it seeks to catch up with the rest of the world.
Scrambling to respond to new security threats following the attempt terror attack on a Detroit-bound airliner, the American government responded with an overnight measure aimed at calming fear but does little in ways of strengthening security. Furthermore, this populist measure is extremely counterproductive form a diplomatic standpoint, further alienating the people targeted by the new rules, and therefore potentially leading to further resentment in parts of the world where the new US administration has been seeking to reconnect.
North Africa is home of the Amazigh people, also known as Berbers. Although widespread in the Maghreb region, the Berbers continue to suffer from a minority status everywhere in the region, with government often ignoring their basic ethnic rights demands at best, or even actively contributing to blocking any progress toward cultural and economic improvement.
